It’s said that art mirrors life. In hip-hop’s case, there’s always been a deliberate entanglement of perception and reality. Fans demand their MCs be real…but never too real. Successful hip-hop is about the hint of the danger, the tease of it, the mystique. Hip-hop is about balance.
Gucci Mane is an artist striving for that balance, volatility versus musicality. Controversy, including a feud with former collaborator Young Jeezy, has grabbed the headlines, with insufficient regard paid to his considerable mic skills, raw talent, and business acumen. Gucci is looking to wrest his name from public speculation and let his own words do the talking.
“I wish everybody well who’s making money in this rap game,” the Atlanta-raised rapper says, dismissing the controversy that followed him in the past. “My own rap game is going so good, I’ve got so many things on my plate at my label, that I don’t got time for other people’s business.” With a deal with Asylum Records as the boss of his own label, So Icey Entertainment, Gucci does indeed have a full schedule with no time to dwell on the past.
“I live my life with no regrets. I just wish that a lot of things never happened, but anybody can wish,” says Gucci. Sounds like a man with his eyes on the prize. And you’d expect nothing less from an artist who ground his way to the top via the hustle of independent records. Signing to Big Cat Records in the wake of his local single “Black Tee,” he dropped his debut record, Trap House, in May 2005. The independent album moved an impressive 140,000 units, largely on the strength of the “Icy” single, featuring Jeezy. Clamor over song rights sparked dispute, and the resulting rift grew.
Controversy notwithstanding, Mane’s independence was cemented: “I was on the independent scene for about two years,” he recalls. “It’s crazy! You gotta go into your own pocket to support your craft. You need other avenues to have money coming in, to support your stuff. You might win, you might lose, and it’s a gamble out there with the independent circuit. One thing you’d better have is good music because without that, you go downhill fast in the independent game.”
Good music firmly in hand, Gucci was fast approaching stardom when more tragedy befell him. But let’s backtrack; how did the man born Radric Davis in Bessemer, Alabama, become Gucci Mane, mouthpiece for Atlanta stuntin’? Mane remembers little from his time in Alabama, just that it was rural, and that it’s changed dramatically since he left at the age of nine. “I gotta shout out Alabama though, because they holdin’ it down,” he affirms. “Every time I go there to do a show, I’m impressed with how hip-hop culture has taken root.”
Mane’s identity coalesced when he moved with his mother to Atlanta. “I lived all of my adolescent and adult life in Atlanta,” he explains. “I’m from East Atlanta Zone Six; it was hard, man, it was real rough. I grew up in the Starter jacket era: they’d take your Starter jacket, your 8Ball jacket, they’d take your hat, your shoes. It was just no holds barred on the streets, dog eat dog. If you missed the bus, you had to be crewed up or you’d get jumped. It was wild when I came up.”
It’s a bleak portrait. When asked to describe his home life more vividly, Mane offers a look into his contemplative side, a side honed as a schoolyard poet. “I was just a young dude in a single parent house most of my life. I can’t complain that much. I would guess it’s like any black child growing up in a single parent household. There are a lot of people who know how that is. I didn’t have a lot coming up; but what I did have, I appreciated. I was blessed to have a caring mother to raise me right and to help me with my business ventures; she’s been there through the whole struggle. There’s a lot that goes along with that; it made me who I am today.”
A stepfather would enter the picture during Mane’s adolescence, introducing not only a male figure, but also inspiration for Mane’s unusual moniker. “My father came in, the original Gucci Mane; that’s what people in the neighborhood called him, and that’s where I get my name from. From then on, I grew up the son of a hustler and a schoolteacher; it was the best of both worlds because I was educated twice.” Drawing inspiration from a pantheon of rappers before him –Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, Ice Cube, the Beastie Boys, N.W.A—Mane went on to release Trap House, a lethal brew of his signature sound: “I call my music straight Gucci: going hard and whatever beats you make you for me, if I’m feeling it, if I’m rocking with it, I’m gonna crush it. When you hear me, you hear a lot of pain, a lot of hood; you hear what’s going on in the inner city in Atlanta.”
Unfortunately, Trap House was ill timed; the month of its release, Gucci was accused of murder and jailed for two days. Eventually deemed to be acting in self-defense, and without sufficient evidence to hold him, Mane was exonerated. But the ordeal left an indelible imprint on the man. “I learned to keep better company, watch where I go, and be mindful of my surroundings at all times,” he reveals. “Watch what I say, watch what I do and how I do it, just keep myself out of the wrong crowd.”
“I always stand up man,” he continues. “I’m one of the toughest guys I know. It’ll take a lot more than that to break me down.” Undeterred, Mane was back in the studio, preparing 2006’s eerily apropos Hard To Kill. The buzz from Hard To Kill vaulted Gucci Mane from regional commodity to national treasure, and major labels responded accordingly: “There was a bidding war going on, and I liked Atlantic’s approach. They made it known that they wanted me, they felt where I was going and that I could grow with them.”
Asylum/Atlantic Records welcomed Gucci Mane in early ’07, granting him his own imprint, So Icey Entertainment. With it comes an entire stable of artists, the So Icey Boyz. As the Boyz ready for their own exposure –“I got them in training; they be in the weight room, pumping iron, doing pushups, shopping at the mall, buying ice”—Gucci is focused on his magnum opus, Back to the Trap House. “I started working on the album, and by the third song, I was like ‘This is going back to the Trap House.’ I started feeling the same way I did when I made my first album. It had the same feel to it, the same freshness. And I had the same hunger and desire I had when I first started rapping.”
“Since I went major, I want everybody to know I’m still keeping it street, keeping it hood,” Gucci maintains. “I’m trying to take it back to all my fans that I had when I first started my career. And at the same time, I’m trying to open up my new album to a new fan base. So it’s a mix for everybody coming together, like my first album was.” Gucci has always prided himself on his innate ability, and his refusal to let guest appearances dictate the tone of his records. “I just want people to know I’m a great songwriter, man,” he asserts. “I’m passionate about what I do, and it’s choreographed strategically when I do it. I bring a lot of experience, creative wordplay, and a crazy style. And my albums, I record most of the songs without writing them down; it’s a God-given gift and I just get paid for it. It come from God, it’s like wondering what makes a bird fly. He made me a poet like the great poets of the past.”
But don’t mistake Gucci’s confidence for self-absorption. The vicissitudes of his career have dictated a longer view. Lyrics aside, he’s less preoccupied with visible means and more so with acting as an emissary from his under-repped block. “I’m not the one to glorify what goes on in the hood,” he insists. “We have everything there, the whole range from violence to people getting on the bus and going to work. There’s a lot more to the hood than just drugs. It’s a bigger story, there’s a big picture. I went to school in that neighborhood, I worked there, I trapped there, I hustled there, and I got my name there. I’m proud to be from East Atlanta Zone Six, and I claim there. I hold that on my back and carry that, to be the first one from there to really rock.”
And Gucci’s professional aims have matured as well. While other rappers stress platinum plaques, Gucci hasn’t forgotten the route he took to stardom. “I made a lot of CDs on my own. People fucked with me and supported me, and just made me the man I am today. That’s my blueprint right there, and I stay mindful of it. So now, my only concern is that people feel my music; at the end of the day, I do it for people to feel it. If one person feel it, two people feel it, I feel like my job’s been done.”
Fortunately for Gucci, he should be prepared to welcome an army of new fans with Back to the Trap House. But longstanding fans shouldn’t fear; they’ll recognize “Freaky Gurl,” reprised from its previous appearance from Hard To Kill. Luda, upon hearing the joint, asked for a guest spot on the remix. Said remix now appears as the lead single on Back to the Trap House, following in Gucci’s theme of mating old and new. Over a bouncing, meandering beat from Cyber Sapp, the two cook up the requisite concoction of whips, chips, and chicks. Also look out for “Bird Flu,” the album’s number two single, laced by New-York based Supa Sonics. Elsewhere, firm guest verses from Rich Boy and Pimp C of UGK round out Gucci’s regional flavor, while Bay-area producer Zaytoven (of “Icy” renown) locks down Gucci’s West Coast appeal.
Gucci Mane has something for everyone, and with the struggles of the past in his rearview, Gucci is settled in for his ride to the top. “I’m best known for controversy but I’m trying to gain respect as a songwriter and entertainer. I plan to hit them so hard with this album; who knows what the future will bring. I’ll be banging them out till I can’t bang no more.”
Adios Amigos
Gucci Mane Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Your girl from Puerto Rico
She took a look at me
And she said Adios amigo
My vato brought them kilos
How much I told em mucho
He drop off;
I just got bac from Cuba
Where everythin' is legal
Ten thousand pounds of guido
Then said adios amigos
Most of my hoe bisexual
But my connect bilingual
Everytime I cash out
He says adios amigos
Turn me up a little
Just a little more
Your girlfriend sniffed a kilo
Gotchu sayin what a lil whore
Damn she muy bonito
I luv her more than guido
She got wit me
Then call you and say adios amigo
Mi casa is su casa
But not really she can gizzzooo
And she don't gotta go home
Gotta git away from me tho
And if you wanna beef
Ill wrap you up like a burrito
Now me straight out your taco
Aks rocko thats ma vato
My new girlfriend a knockout
She luv to call me papa
Put gucci on her tatas
Her mouth wetter than aqua
Her x boyfriend got mota
I showed her how to hold a
AK on her shoulder
An bring me back that doja
GUCCI
In Gucci Mane feat. Rocko's song "Adios Amigos," the lyrics describe the chaotic and unstable lifestyle of the rapper. The opening line "My life la vida loca" translates to "my life is crazy" in Spanish, setting the tone for the rest of the song. The rapper boasts about his connections to drug dealers, including a man who "brought them kilos" and dropped them off for him. The use of Spanish in the lyrics, such as "gracias" and "vato," adds to the street credibility of the song and its subject matter.
The chorus, sung by Rocko, tells the story of a woman from Puerto Rico who took a look at Gucci Mane and said "Adios amigo" (goodbye friend) because she was not interested in him. The lyrics also mention a trip to Cuba, where everything is legal, and ending every transaction with "adios amigos." The lifestyle described in the song is dangerous and unstable, with the lyrics referring to beefs with other people and wrapping them up like burritos.
Interestingly, the song's chorus has a similar melody and rhythm to "La Bamba," a traditional Mexican song. This is likely a nod to the Hispanic influences evident in the song's lyrics. Additionally, the song's title, "Adios Amigos," translates to "goodbye friends" in English and is a common phrase used when parting ways with someone. It's a fitting title for the song's subject matter, which describes a lifestyle of constantly saying goodbye to people, whether it be women, drug dealers or enemies.
Line by Line Meaning
My life la vida loca
My life is crazy and wild
Your girl from Puerto Rico
I met a girl from Puerto Rico
She took a look at me
She looked at me
And she said Adios amigo
And she said goodbye
My vato brought them kilos
My friend brought drugs
How much I told em mucho
I told him a lot of money
He drop off;
He dropped off the drugs
I said gracias and Adios amigos
I said thank you and goodbye
I just got bac from Cuba
I just came back from Cuba
Where everythin' is legal
Where everything is allowed
Ten thousand pounds of guido
A lot of drugs
Then said adios amigos
Then said goodbye
Most of my hoe bisexual
Most of my women are attracted to both genders
But my connect bilingual
But my drug supplier can speak two languages
Everytime I cash out
Every time I make a lot of money
He says adios amigos
He says goodbye
Turn me up a little
Make the music louder
Just a little more
Just a bit louder
Your girlfriend sniffed a kilo
Your girlfriend used drugs
Gotchu sayin what a lil whore
You're calling her a whore
Damn she muy bonito
She is very pretty
I luv her more than guido
I love her more than drugs
She got wit me
She got with me
Then call you and say adios amigo
Then she called you and said goodbye
Mi casa is su casa
My house is your house
But not really she can gizzzooo
But not really, she cannot stay
And she don't gotta go home
And she doesn't have to go back to her place
Gotta git away from me tho
But she has to leave me
And if you wanna beef
And if you want to fight
Ill wrap you up like a burrito
I will beat you up
Now me straight out your taco
Now I'm out of your business
Aks rocko thats ma vato
Ask Rocko, he's my friend
My new girlfriend a knockout
My new girlfriend is very attractive
She luv to call me papa
She loves to call me daddy
Put gucci on her tatas
She got a tattoo of my name
Her mouth wetter than aqua
She is good at giving oral sex
Her x boyfriend got mota
Her ex-boyfriend used drugs
I showed her how to hold a
I taught her how to handle a gun
AK on her shoulder
An AK-47 gun on her shoulders
An bring me back that doja
And bring me the marijuana
GUCCI
End of the song, referencing the artist's name
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@misscgreene
GUCCI is the greatest rapper alive he kills everything he makes
@rillo81dro
trappin aint dead!!!! free gucci mane
@RebElPaso
THATS WHATS UP! ROCKO SHOUTED OUT EL PASO TEX!! "IN EL PASO EAT TACOS" Hes Probably Tombout CHICOS TACOS. Very Popular Taco Spot Here In Town. Finally someone Showed Love to my city, Damn. Good Stuff Mane and Rocko. RESPECTOS ESE!!!!
@SeperatePiece
That boy rocko went hard
@brookiebearish
LMAO " IF U WANNA BEEF ILL WRAP U UP LIKE A BURRITO"
@bradhommie
This song go hella ham So does Gucci Mane "Classical Intro'
@Jmontana1017
still my shit! free guwop
@tjlopez4273
Can't find this on Apple Music but this has always been my song 🔥🔥
@anth2290
Same
@chekishiko
muy bien cuando mezclan el español ¡¡ y como dice la vieja hasta la vista :)